Games of a Heart and Soul
by The Shadowfox Mistress
Summary: The spirits grow bored and they want a human body. They found Ryou and now he's been thrown into a game without his own knowledge. Will Bakura be able to keep his host or will Ryou succumb to the wishes of the other spirits and choose one of them instead?
1. Part 1

Chapter 1

"Dammit!" Ryou cursed slamming his fist against the alley wall. Sharp splinters of rock broke off and quickly embedded themselves into his flesh. They didn't go unnoticed.

The white haired teen yowled and clutched his hand against his body feeling the blood well up under his fingers. 'Great more blood loss, that's exactly what I need,' Ryou thought bitterly as he closed his eyes against the pain.

This scene wasn't too rare for Ryou as he trudged home in the early morning hours. As soon as he had gotten home from school that day his yami had told him roughly that he was going out drinking tonight, and that was exactly what his yami had done despite Ryou's own protests. Plus to make matters worse sometime during his yami's drinking fest two thugs had dragged him out back saying that he owed them money. The two thugs were obviously dead now, their souls lying in the stomach of one of his yami's monsters, but Ryou's own body had not made it out of the fight unscathed. One of the thugs had a knife on him and in a surge of fear had turned it upon his yami, grazing it across their stomach in one clean arch. His yami had just laughed it off and kicked the guy in the face but the problem was that Ryou wasn't laughing it off now. His dark, having had his fun, just left Ryou with their injured drunken body and told him rather cruelly to fix it.

Ryou stumbled down the street that led to his apartment. His breath was coming in short sharp gasps and his shirt that had previously been a light blue was now a dark red, reflecting black in flickering street lamps. Luckily for Ryou his yami had been out drinking late and there was no one else but him wondering around the streets. He had no clue what he would do if a policeman were to show up. He could barely walk let alone run and hide. And they were sure to take him into custody with just one look at his bloody shirt never even mind the fact that his breath reeked of alcohol.

Ryou finally managed to get to his apartment complex and gave a small groan as he remembered that he lived on the highest floor, the third floor! Going up those stairs was going to be a hell in itself and he was standing right at hell's gates.

Ryou paused before the steps gathering up his determination and will. First he took one step, ignoring the pain that flashed through him, and slowly took another. By the third he thought his world was one fire as his torn ab muscles clenched and unclenched.

As he slowly worked his way up the stairs he was yet again thankful for the absence of people. It was a hard trek for him and even though he didn't touch a single drop of alcohol his yami had and he was drunk as a doornail. His feet kept slipping from underneath him and he would lose his balance at inopportune moments. By the middle of the third flight his world was a hazy red as it spun circles around him. Ryou knew he was going to pass out soon but he needed it to be in the safety of his apartment, not out here where anybody could find him, could ask questions he wasn't willing to answer. He slowly concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other and before he knew it there were no more stairs.

He made it. He was at the top.

Ryou stood swaying slightly at the top of the staircase trying to focus enough to extract the information of where he lived from his muddled mind. He found the information he wanted but he could do nothing to stop the rest from coming with it.

He closed his eyes and clutched his head trying to stop the mad onslaught his brain was forcing him to see. Half-seen images swam through his mind. Some of him, some of his yami and through the madness he could hear a steady dripping noise. With each drop his reality wavered crashing through the images. The ceiling and floor were suddenly rushing up to meet him, closing in around him. He was going to be crushed, but at the same time they were rushing out from beneath him, expanding into an empty space; the void. The entire universe was rushing away from him, leaving him alone and small and helpless.

Suddenly, as if they themselves were protesting against the wild sensations, his torn stomach muscles decided to clench in a wave of nausea. Ryou couldn't help but gasp in pain as his reality returned to normal in a dead standstill. His hand instinctively went to clutch his wound and when he brought it back all Ryou could do was stare in a dull fascination. His hand was covered black and red and while he watched a drop of blood fell off leisurely.

Ryou slowly turned and was just able to focus enough to see the small path of blood that was trailing behind him. Nothing could be done about it now he just… had… to get… to his room.

Ryou leaned against the wall, using it for support as he trudged down the hall trying not to throw up. He didn't even notice the red smear he was leaving behind him. He finally managed to get to his door and sluggishly dug through his pockets for the keys. The wind suddenly whipped up and lashed out at him and to Ryou it seemed to be copying his yami's harsh words yelling at him to hurry up. Ignoring the wind (and his yami) Ryou finally managed to unlock the door and stagger inside.

One step.

Two steps.

He couldn't take it anymore.

Ryou collapsed to the floor and his whole world went black.


	2. Part 2

Chapter 2

The small white haired boy slowly opened his eyes as light streamed in dully through the blinds. A sharp racking at the door was quickly determined to be the cause of his awakening.

He lifted his head and shoulders but dropped back down to the floor immediately crying out as pain lanced through him. Ryou lay there breathing heavily as tears welled up around the corners of his eyes. The stomach wound was hurting more than it had last night, way more and it was a different type of pain for some reason. It had the taste of something sharp that made Ryou get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was so accustomed to wounds of any kind by this point from his yami that he knew when something didn't feel like it should. Could he possibly be hurt enough to be in need of a hospital? How would he explain the wounds existence?

Ryou slowly snaked a hand down to the bottom of his shirt and pulled. Bile rose almost instantly to the back of his throat as he saw what had happened to his stomach.

Right under the Millennium Ring a thin row of staples ran horizontally across his belly barely holding the knife wound together that was now heavily infected. In many places the skin had split around the staples baring open his insides to the world.

Ryou looked at the thing with a dull sort of fascination and it seemed the longer he looked at it the worse it became. The staples were rusty and the infection was oozing a clear puss like fluid, the rest of the skin around the wound was red and puffy like it was about to burst.

The only thoughts that kept chasing themselves through Ryou's head were 'Was this his yami's cruel idea of a joke?' and 'Does he want me to die?'. The thing to send him off the edge though was the little white head poking itself out from the wound. A maggot's head.

Ryou screamed.

Ryou's eyes shot open and he gave a small grunt of pain as his body unconsciously tried to sit up. He ignored it however and hastily tried to rip his shirt off. He finally got it off after much difficulty and looked down.

The wound was gone.

No rusting staples. No oozing sacks. No maggots crawling out from the depths of his body. Just the Millennium Ring and a nasty looking bruise lay on his stomach. No other signs of the wound existed, not even a scar.

//Stop staring like an idiot and get the damn door//

Ryou heard his yami's voice echo across his mind and it was like a switch being thrown. Ryou could suddenly hear the thunderous knocking at his front door.

"Coming!" Ryou yelled his voice cracking a bit. It had taken two tries to make the yell with his swollen tongue but he finally managed. He was pretty used to having hangovers by now and the effects they had on him.

Ryou rolled onto his stomach with a hiss of pain and slowly got up. Ryou finally observed his surroundings and was surprised to find himself in his bedroom; he was even in different clothes then the night before.

//Go!//

Ryou flinched slightly at the shout but he hurried nonetheless. He hit the hallway and was blinded by the sudden surge of light and the forming headache that followed it.

Ryou ignored his hangover and felt his way towards the door. "Yes?" he asked craning his head outside. His next response however was very meek when he saw who it was.

"Hello Dane."

"That's Mr. Dane to you Bakura," Dane hissed.

Dane was the manager's husband and high on Ryou's list of people to stay away from. He was big, round, and burly and because of his size and his wife's position he thought this put him into power. He often used his size to intimidate and bully others, namely Ryou, and nobody really tried to stop him. Ryou's yami didn't see him as a threat more as an annoyance. The only reason Dane wasn't in the Shadow Realm yet was because Yami Bakura thought that Dane's treatment to Ryou would help toughen him up a bit. Ryou of course thought differently on the matter.

"Uh can I help you?" Ryou asked hesitantly shocked by the sudden hostility of the other man.

"There's a path of blood leading right to your apartment! That's the third time this week! You're scaring away the other renters. If it wasn't for your dad paying all that money your ass would be outta here! Were the hell is it coming from!"

"That's-That's my blood," Ryou stammered hiding behind the door slightly.

"Bullshit!" Dane yelled trying to advance upon Ryou. "Nobody could lose that much blood and live."

Ryou's eyes darkened slightly and he stepped forward throwing himself right up in Dane's face. "Then do a blood test," he hissed before slamming the door.

Ryou took a couple steps inside before his yami released him and he collapsed to his knees. "Why did you do that?" he asked in a shaky voice.

//Because that Dane guy was being an annoying small-minded ass tick//

Ryou heard his yami snap irritably before he felt a sudden pulling sensation from the back of his mind as the Ring gave a small flash of light.

"This place looks like shit."

Ryou lifted his head and sighed seeing the semi-transparent form of his yami lounging on the couch. Oh how he wished he had gotten a different spirit.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oooo," the spirit said watching the white haired boy. "He could work."

"Who could work my sister?" another spirit asked stepping from the shadows and wrapping his arms around the first.

"This one my brother," the first spirit said pointing to the floating image.

"Huh, we could start a …" the second spirit trailed off looking at his sister expectantly his eyes flashing red in the darkness.

"Game," she finished for him with a smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ryou whipped the sweat from his brow and sighed. His yami had been working him hard all day. The dark had ordered Ryou to clean up all the blood that had been spilt the night before and least to say it was no easy task.

After Ryou had collapsed his yami had taken control of his body and wandered around the house doing whatever he wished. He had eventually decided to heal Ryou's stomach but there was still a lot of blood floatin' around.

Ryou got up from the couch finally done conquering a particularly stubborn stain and decided to take a small break in the kitchen. Ryou stepped through the door and looked hesitantly around making sure that his yami wasn't hiding in the shadows ready to knife him. He did that every once in a while just for kicks.

Ryou, not finding his darker half, proceeded over to the fridge and began to dig through it to find what he considered to be edible. Ryou and his yami both had very different ideas to what was considered edible. Raw meat for example.

The little light eventually came up for air holding a block of cheese in one hand and a pack of crackers in the other. Among all the things he had seen he thought that these two items would be the least tainted by his yami and his vicious appetite.

Putting his food down on the counter Ryou went to salvage a knife for his cheese. While he was digging through the drawer he suddenly froze feeling a pair of eyes on him. When he turned back around he expected to see his yami grinning at him maliciously from the counter but instead all there was, was a doll.

Ryou blinked at it. Where in the world had that thing come from? Was his yami using a new tactic to screw with his head by placing soulless dolls around the house?

Ryou set the knife down absent mindedly and proceeded over to inspect the doll. Now that he got a closer look Ryou could see that it wasn't a doll at all but more as a figurine. It looked familiar but he couldn't place where it was from.

With one last suspicious look at the 'doll' Ryou retrieved his knife and sat down at the counter determined to finish his snack. Ryou undid all his food and try as he might he found that he couldn't eat with that dumb doll staring at him. He finally got fed up and turned the damn thing around so that its back was facing him. Ryou felt as if a huge pressure had been relieved from him after the deed had been done and he was able to enjoy his snack in peace.

//Ryou Bakura//

Ryou jumped as the faint whisper brushed across his mind. He looked around fearfully thinking it was his yami and called out. "Please, can't you even let me have a break in peace?" There was no response in the empty kitchen and Ryou took that as a 'fine I'll leave you alone, for now'. Grumbling Ryou picked up the dish he had been using and pushed it into the sink roughly. He was going to have to do dishes soon the sink was filling up.

Ryou turned around and was about to stalk out the door when he did a double take that stopped him in his tracks. The doll had somehow turned itself around and was staring intently at Ryou with a malicious grin on its face.

//Ryou//

Ryou blanched as he heard the whisper. It couldn't be. That doll was an intimate object it couldn't talk to him let alone say his name.

//Bakura//

Ryou fled.


	3. Part 3

Chapter 3

Ryou's cheeks were slowly starting to flush with the biting cold that nipped at him as he ran. Earlier that morning he had somehow convinced his yami to let him go to school but the time taken to convince him had cost Ryou too much time and he was surely going to be late.

//I take no responsibility for you being late//

Ryou heard his yami growl the thought, as if in response to his previous ones, before the spirit abruptly cut off the link that the two shared. Ryou shook his head at his yami's childish antics but he let him be. His yami hated him going to school because that meant he was closer to Yugi which equaled to the Pharaoh in his yami's mind. The fear of being discovered would haunt his yami so badly that it would slowly drag itself over to Ryou and cause him to tense up in turn whenever the little hikari even spoke to him. And even though Ryou would stay by himself all the time he still found school enjoyable.

Ryou bolted around a corner his shoes skidding on the morning frost. He went down, one arm flailing while the other automatically braced for the impact. The impact never came.

Ryou opened his eyes and was surprised to see a girl standing above him holding him tightly by the arm that had previously been flailing hopelessly.

"You should be more careful," she said giving Ryou a hard yank that righted him. Ryou teetered haphazardly for a couple of seconds but managed to keep his balance.

"Uhh thanks," Ryou mumbled finally stabilized, resisting the urge to grab his shoulder as a slow but steady ache started to build up. It felt like that girl had practically ripped his arm out of its socket. Yeash, he would be bruised tomorrow!

"Just being helpful," she said giving Ryou a penetrating stare. Ryou managed not to flinch under her gaze but he couldn't meet her eyes either (not that he really wanted to anyways).

"I-I have to go. It's been nice meeting you but I have to go to school and all," Ryou stammered picking up his book bag that had fallen off.

The girl just gave a curt nodded and said "Of course, school is very important." Ryou gave her a hesitant smile and took the opportunity to flee without a second thought.

Ryou finally made it to his school panting and out of breath. He was late there was no doubt about it. He trudged himself over to the locker rooms and slowly switched his shoes. He wondered half heartedly if his teacher was going to fail him for the class. He had missed so much school cause of his yami and half the time when he did go to school he was late. If he were the teacher he would be ripping out his own hair by this point.

Ryou made it up to class and hurriedly took his seat conscious of the teacher's glare that was boring itself into his back. The teacher continued on with the lesson, albeit a bit more stiffly then before as Ryou hurriedly dug through his bag to find the correct text book.

The teacher droned on and on through the lesson and Ryou found it increasingly difficult to focus. His mind kept wandering and he couldn't focus on anything. The teacher's words started to slur together and everything started to blur.

Colors flashed through his mind at a perverse level and distantly a familiar laugh echoed around him slowly gathering pitch, getting louder and louder every second until it was unbearable. Ryou felt his hands clutch at his ears to block out the laughter and his world spun around in a chaotic field of screams and cries.

"Bakura?"

Ryou jumped as he suddenly felt a hand start to shake him. "What?!" he yelled jumping, blinking rapidly as everything came back into focus. He looked up and saw Yugi standing over him with concern.

"Were breaking for lunch," Yugi said biting his lip softly. "You didn't respond at the bell so I thought…." He trailed off.

"Thanks Yugi," Ryou smiled giving one of his fake smiles that almost everybody mistook for genuine. Yugi was apparently not fooled.

"Is everything okay Bakura? You seemed kinda out of it today."

//Damn the Pharaoh's melding sex toy//

Ryou ignored his yami glad that nobody else could hear his words.

"Everything's fine. I've just had a lot on my mind lately, that's all." Ryou could see the turmoil raging in Yugi on weather to help a friend in need or to except Ryou's word. Ryou gave him another encouraging smile and the latter won out.

Yugi gave Ryou on last pleading smile but Ryou told him to go with his friends. Joey's complaints could be heard quite clearly from the hall. Yugi quickly retrieved his backpack and went to calm his other friend.

The last echoes of Yugi and his gang faded away and Ryou sighed slowly chewing on his lip. Something felt wrong. Ryou thought he had only spaced out for a couple of minutes, not a couple of hours. Pain suddenly pervaded his senses and Ryou flinched as he tasted blood in his mouth. He really needed to break himself of that habit.

//You're too stressed out or something. That's why you have that habit. This is exactly why I don't like you going to school.//

"You'll look for any excuse not to let me go to school," Ryou said out loud. There was nobody left in the classroom so he had no fear of talking. He preferred this over the links anyway.

//I have half the mind to have you ditch the rest of the day.//

"Hey you promised!" Ryou said indignantly strapping on his backpack. There was a familiar pulling sensation at the back of his mind and suddenly his translucent yami was standing infront of him with his arms crossed.

"I have been know to break my promises," Ryou's yami growled taking a dangerous step forward. The ring starting to glow faintly on his chest

"Oh come on. Please not now," Ryou pleaded recognizing his yami's smirk. His yami said nothing for a reply instead the Ring flashed even brighter as more magic surged around them. Ryou bolted.

With one quick movement his yami reached out and grabbed the back of Ryou's uniform. Ryou jerked back and fell hard to the ground as his feet were suddenly swept out from underneath him. He opened his eyes slowly as pain flared in the back of his skull. "Pathetic," his yami muttered above him. The dark sudden reached down as if he was going to embrace the boy but slowly faded into him.

Ryou got up slowly and if anyone ever paid attention they would have noticed a strange spike to his hair that had not existed prior and that the edges of his eyes looked like they had been darkened by either a kohl pencil or from lack of sleep.

The newly inhabited boy looked down at his hands turning them over back and forth, making sure that everything was in order. It was.

A half-familiar smirk graced the boy's features and he reslung his backpack over his shoulder heading out the door, wondering what to do first.


	4. Part 4

Chapter 4

Ryou blinked slowly as he looked around. He was in a familiar room that had a giant white, fluffy bed in one corner and papers and pens scattered all around the floor. Most of the papers had pictures or words drawn on them. Some were nice and happy while others dark and gruesome, but they all showed talent. The rest were basically letters. Some half scrawled on, others full to the brim with stories and tales of wonders. Some were addressed to his father but most were to his dead sister. It was a demented past time of his. It was his soul room.

Ryou sighed and flopped down on his bed. His yami had taken over again, and while in his soul room Ryou had no perception of time on the outside world. Minutes in here could be days in the physic world, and vice versa. He had absolutely no idea what regulated time in here and he had the sneaky suspicion neither did his yami.

With a small whim Ryou summoned one of the pieces of paper and a black pen. The specimen before him was half finished, one of his previous works. It was of a grey wolf with pale blue sapphire eyes. It stood on all fours protectively over a slain deer glaring, challenging, the onlooker. The muzzle was bloody as if she had been interrupted while feeding and Ryou pondered what had given him the inspiration to draw this one. He think's he was watching TV and that they had a special on one night about wolves and their effects on the environment. He had nothing better to do then so he watched it. He had nothing better to do now so he finished it.

The dark walked languorously down the last flight of stairs. He was in a much better mood now that the fucking Pharaoh was out of sight, if not completely out of mind. The hair-gelled wonder was always lurking around the corner using his stupid hikari's body. Oh how he wanted to kill him.

The spirit had almost escaped the confines of the school when a voice ripped the air and he cursed.

"Hey Bakura! Where're you going sweetie?"

He turned to see a one of the girls in his light's class come running and nearly trip over her own skirt. The spirit rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Good thing I caught you. Don't you remember silly? We were supposed to get together and study today. You said you were going to help me on my geometry homework," the girl said in an almost pout.

"Uhh I guess I forgot," the dark said annoyed wondering if he would get caught if he sent this preppy tart to the shadow realm.

"Well that's okay. There's still enough time of our lunch break left that if we really crank through it we can get at least a couple lessons done."

"Look I have others things to do right now," the dark said testily. The girl was still ignorantly unaware of the dark's annoyance.

"We'll like what?"

"British things. Eat bangers and mash or something like that."

"Well if you want to eat alone we can work after you're done eating."

That was it. He had dealt with this wretch for long enough. The dark turned around with a burst of speed and struck the girl across the face. She gave a cry of pain and surprise and the ring phased through Ryou's shirt glowing like mad. A golden light shot out of the ring at the girl and hit her directly in the chest, cutting off her scream. The light shot back at the spirit and settled into his out stretched hand. Slowly the light formed into a doll with the likeness of the girl sketched across its features. He made a mental note to burn the thing when he got home.

Pocketing the doll the dark turned to leave. He exited through the double doors and behind him shouts were heard and cries of shock as the girl was found. His conscious was clear.

The possessed boy walked nonchalantly down the streets of Domino pondering which bars were open and which ones would give him the most hassle about his hikari's age. He decided on just sticking with his regular and turned down the next alley.

A figure with gleaming red eyes watched from the shadows as the dark passed. A frown graced his features when he saw it was the spirit in control instead of the boy but gave pursuit anyway.

The hair on the back of Ryou's neck stood on end and the spirit trusted the body's natural instincts (no matter how diluted they were). He turned in a sharp flash and glared down the alley. Nobody was there. The dark bared a tooth in irritation. He learned his lesson long ago to always trust the sixth sense.

"I warn you now, don't irritate me!"

The dark listened to his voice reverberate back to him and still nothing moved. He waited a few minutes before slowly, hesitantly turned back around. He nearly bumped into the guy standing right behind him. Instantly on guard the spirit jumped backwards and drew a switchblade from his back pocket.

"If you value you're life then start talking," he spat. How the hell had this guy snuck up on him like that?

The guy raised an eyebrow as if in amusement and slowly drew his hands from his pockets and extended them palm forward showing he was unarmed. Ryou's dark didn't believe him for a second.

"My name is Adam."

"I don't care. What do you want?"

"Nothing really," he answered looking down, red eyes flashing dangerously. "Just thought I'd even the odds in this little game."

Yami Bakura instantly brought his knife up to protect himself. Sparks flashed through the air as the two blades met in a stalemate.

"They said you were good," Adam said calmly almost eye to eye with the other spirit as the two fought for dominance.

"Back off mortal," Yami Bakura whispered grabbing his other knife and in one quick motion slashing it sideways at Adam. The redhead jumped backward barely missing the blade's arc and landed, crouched, a few feet away. Yami Bakura didn't give him a chance to recover. He ran forward and with one downward swipe prepared to end Adam's life. Adam sensing his danger rolled to the side and aimed a kick at the other's shin. Yami Bakura went down cursing and Adam quickly retreated back a couple of steps trying to put some distance between them.

"Those bastards didn't say you were this good, I might have to up my game," Adam said casually as Yami Bakura struggled to his feet.

"Who sent you?" the injured dark snarled as the Ring started to glow faintly under his shirt. The Shadow Realm started to engulf the alley and the spirit smirked. It was time to finish this uppity brat.

"Nobody did unless you count my sister Avril," Adam replied brushing back his hair, watching the shadows form with an almost bored look and with a swipe of his hand dispelled them. Yami Bakura's features darkened in anger and an undertone of fear. All the Millennium Items were accounted for. How the hell did he just do that?

"You still haven't figured it out have you?" Adam remarked almost off handedly in that gratingly calm voice of his. "But in order to defeat me you'll have to step it up a notch."

Yami Bakura started to laugh as he mimicked Adam's voice "Step it up a notch?" as one of his hands slowly snaked down and replaced a knife with his deck. "I don't know how you disrupted my magic," he added slowly thumbing through the cards, "but you won't be able to stop this."

Yami Bakura held a card high over his head and with a sudden flash of light a morphing jar slowly oozed into existence. Adam frowned as the one eyed monster jeered at him with that demented smile. He may have been able to prevent the Shadow Realm from forming but he couldn't stop the monsters. He was about to get in way over his head.

"You're right Spirit of the Ring!" he called out. "I can't defeat your monster." Yami Bakura smirked and Adam knew his guard was down. Now was the time. "But that doesn't mean I can't defeat you."

The knife Adam was holding suddenly flared to life with a green aura and he lunged forward with an incredible speed. The morphing jar struck and grazed the side of Adam's leg. Pain flared through his body but he ignored it for now instead concentrating on his target. Yami Bakura brought his knife up to protect himself but Adam wasn't aiming for him, he was aiming for the Ring. The knife hit its mark.

A metallic ring rang through the air as Yami Bakura stood there breathless as the magics tying him to the Ring and Ryou were severed. The ringing noise grew louder and louder and morphing jar gave its own scream as it shattered, slowly fading from this plane.

A blank look passed through Ryou's eyes as he was forcefully ripped from his soul room and back to his body. His eyes rolled and he slumped forward in a dead faint.

Adam crouched near the boy breathing heavily as sweat ran down his face. That bit of magic had taken a lot out of him and he knew he couldn't stay here much longer without facing penalties.

He gathered up the last of his remaining strength and slowly faded away.


End file.
